Bellows



March 25 ,v 1924.

J. L. LEMERLE BELLOWS Filed May l5 1922 Patented Mar. 25, 1924.

UNITED STATES JACQUES LOUIS LEIVIERLE, VINCENNES, FRANCE.

BELLOWS.

Application led May 15, 1922. Serial No. 561,006.

T 0 all Iw hom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JACQUES Louis LE- Mnnnn, citizen of the French Republic, residin at Vincennes, Department of Seine, France, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bellows, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to bellows and it has to do more particularly, though not exclusively, with bellows intended for use in connection with railway-cars, known as car diaphragme in order to form a tight joint between the vestibules of cars coupled together. n

An object of the invention is to simplify, and, therefore, reduce the cost of manufacture of, such devices.

The invention consists chiefly: in riveting, or otherwise suitably fastenin into the folds of the bellows above referre to, the usual strengthening bands in such a manner that the rivets will be distributed along the folding lines of the bellows and will not interfere with the folding of the folds of the bellows throughout the ent-ire depth, but will prevent a sharp bend in the material of the bellows.

The invention comprises other secondary novel features, which will be more fully set forth in the course of this specification and pointed out in the appended claims.

The invention has more particularly in view the production, as new articles of manufacture, of bellows embodying such new arrangement and features, as well as of the spec'lic elements making up the construction of such bellows.

The invention will be readily understood by means of the following description and by reference to the accompanying drawings, said description and drawings being, of course, given merely by way of example.

In said drawings:

Figure 1 shows, in partial section. the usual bellows made of folded or chased leather.

Figure 2- is a similar view of a bellows made in accordance with the invention.

In constructing, for example, intercommunication-bellows for railway-cars, as shown in Fig. 2 which illustrates the preferred embodiment of the invention, Imanufacture, in the usual manner, the bellowshead a of leather, canvas, or other suitable material. I also produce from flat iron or steel approximately U-shaped strengthening bands b to be placed in each fold of the bellows. l

Instead of riveting these bands to the bellows-leather in the usual manner, that is to say, as shown in Figure l, upon the leather-portion situated between two bends (outer and inner), I arrange rivets along the outer bend itself, as shown in Fig. 2.

For this purpose, I provide the Shanks of the rivets o with means for fastening them to the strengthening band b, and, in order to obtain this vresult I either provide the shank of the rivet with a fork embracing the strengthening band and secured thereto by any suitable means; or fasten the rivet directly on the band by soldering or other suitable means; or form the rivet with a stirrup-shaped part adapted to embrace the band, the free ends of said rivet being adapted to be bent down, so as to form the head of the rivet. The bodies of these rivets thus fastened onto the `band b extend through holes punched in the leather along its outer bend, and the riveting is effected in the usual way, preferably after having placed upon the leather a corresponding number of washers, or, a. continuous metallic band e provided with holes for the passage of the rivet-bodies, in such a manner that said washers or band, when the rivet-heads have been formed, will be interposed between the latter and the leather.

The bellows is afterwards completed, in the ordinary way, by uniting together the upper and lower heads by means of lateral elements made of leather or canvas, which elements may be strengthened in the manner above explained with reference toI the heads.

By the construction just described an intercommunication-bellows is obtained, the expansion of which takes place under better conditions than heretofore and without any risk that the leather or canvas will become torn out by the rivet-heads, as frequently happens at the point (Z (Figure l) in the usual forms. Moreover the rivet-heads protect said leather or canvas from any friction against the sheath of the bellows.

Obviously the invention is not restricted to the modes of application and realization herein described and shown, but may take other forms coming within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims: l. An accordion-shaped bel-lows provided between its folds with flat strengthening bands lying in the planes of the outer fol-ding lines of the bellows, and rivets distributed along said outer folding lines for securing said bands to said bellows.

2. An accordion-shaped bellows provided between its folds with strengthening bands, and rivets for securing said bands to said bellows, said rivets being distributed along the folding' lines of the bellows and each -being` provided at its inner end with a fork or stirrup-shaped part embracing one of the strengthening bands and Yfastened thereto.

In a dev-iee'of the eharraoter described,

a Acollapsible accordion-shaped member, pro- JACQUES LOUIS LEMERLE. 

